A LEGAL STUDY ON CYBER PIRACY: PROTECTION OF SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT IN

MALAYSIA

Acknowledgement

All praises to Allah SWT, whom with His blessings gives us the opportunity to complete this Final Year Project entitled, "A Legal Study on Cyber Piracy: Protection of Software Copyright in Malaysia." This research project has been carried out by a team which includes Norazizah binti Sineng, Mazaitul Norli Maisarah binti Mohd Ramly and Fara Hidayatul Aqma binti Abdul Ghani. It is prepared for the Faculty of Law, Universiti Teknologi MARA, basically for student in the final year to complete the undergraduate program that leads to the degree of Bachelor of Legal Studies.

First and foremost, we are thankful to our supervisor, Professor Lim Heng Gee, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law UiTM and whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final stage enabled us to develop an understanding of the subject and for the useful guidelines during the presentation and completion of the project paper's proposal, Dr Sheela a/p Jayabala Krishnan @ Jayabalan. Apart from that we would like to show our gratitude to Associates Professor Pn Siti Hajar binti Mohd Yasin, a lecturer of UiTM Shah Alam for allocating her time to explain further regarding the subject and highlighted her views regarding software copyright infringement in Malaysia.

It is a pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible, the lecturers and staffs of the Law Faculty for their valuable information, suggestions and guidance in the compilation and preparation of this final year project report. We also like to give our deepest thanks and appreciation to our parents, family, colleagues, and others for all the cooperation, encouragement, constructive suggestion and supports.

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Abstract

In Malaysia, the infringement of software copyright is a problem that still cannot be curbed from the nature of the citizens. Even though we have regulations that are related to software copyright, the enforcement of the regulation in our country is still inadequate which had caused many infringements of copyright issues. Compared to the United Kingdom, we found that country is really strict with regard to this matter. Thus, our country is facing a problem on protection of software copyright due to the changes of the industry in relation to the demand for new and better software. As a result, our industry is threatened by the scale of cyber piracy. This happens when there is no proper enforcement and effectives law that governs this industry. This high price of computer software in the market will also lead people to pirate the software easily by using the Internet.

The Copyright Act 1987 of Malaysia provides comprehensive protection for copyrightable works. The Act outlines the nature of works eligible for copyright which include computer software, the scope of protection, and the manner in which the protection is accorded. The Copyright Act 1987 also provides the enforcement of the law by the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC). In addition, the Act also provides the necessary clout to the enforcement agencies to effectively carry out anti-piracy measures. The Act is currently being amended to expand the power of the tribunal to include arbitration of disputes relating to use of copyright works.

In relation to this study, our main scope is on the protection of software copyright in Malaysia. The aims of our studies are to critically analyze the law relating to software copyright in Malaysia, how the Copyright Act 1987 protects the software copyright in Malaysia and to examine the weaknesses by comparing the law in other countries such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom. As for the result outcome, we wish to find possible suggestions in order to improve the enforcement of software copyright in Malaysia. Therefore, a comparison should be made with the United States and the United Kingdom in order to adopt their effectiveness in the enforcement of the law in our country, Malaysia.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Table of Content iv

CHAPTER ONE: A LEGAL STUDY ON CYBER PIRACY: PROTECTION OF

SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT IN MALAYSIA

1.0: Introduction to research 1

1.1: Problem Statement 3

1.2: Objectives of Study 4

1.3: Literature Review 4

1.4: Research Methodology 7

1.5: Scope 8

1.6: Significance of the Study 8

CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND BASIC PRINCIPLES OF COMPUTER

SOFTWARE

2.0: Introduction 9

2.1: What is Computer Software 9

2.2: Historical Background of Copyright Legislation in Malaysia 10

2.3: Authorship and Ownership 15

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CHAPTER ONE:

INTRODUCTION

1.0: Introduction

Nowadays, computers and the Internet are very essential in our daily life and we use

them for many purposes such as in business, education, work, social networking and

others. Thus, we had seen many changes in the computer technologies and it has

developed very fast from time to time together with the globalization of our country

and technologies. Usually computers must have computer software to use and make it

work efficiently. The computer programs, databases, computer stored or generated

documents and information are the examples of the computer's software. The

development in the computers technologies had lead to the demand of the computers

software increase highly. However, the issues arise when the computer software

industry grows quickly to meet the demand for new and better software and due to

these circumstances they were threatened by the scale of cyber piracy. This happens

when there is no enforceable and effective's law that will govern this industry and later

on will make the price increase highly in the market and thus will lead people to pirate

the software easily by using the Internet.

Copyright is defined as a right to authorize the use of one's work in different ways. It

requires permission to copy or use and the exclusive right given to the owner of a

copyright for a specific period. The emphasis is not so much on the right to copy but on

the right to prevent others from unfairly taking advantages from others who had the

ownership of the copyright, who in most cases is the author, composer, artist and

sculptor of the work. According to the Carnegie Mellon University, cyber piracy is any

instance where the Internet is used to copy a digital document without authorization

including copying and distributing music or video without the copyright holder's

permission, using cloned credit card information to steal from an online store, or

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